It has always been a dream of mine to dine at The French Laundry. For anyone that is unaware, The French Laundry is not a laundromat, it is the westcoast restaurant of Chef Thomas Keller. It has been named “Best Restaurant in the World” in 2003 and 2004. Since 2006, it has been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide to San Francisco, and was called “the best restaurant in the world, period” by Anthony Bourdain. It’s a quaint, nondescript stone building along Washington Street in Yountville, CA.

We were 30 minutes early, so we headed down the street to Redd Wood for a drink.

At precisely 7:30pm we were seated.

Not only was there a surprise on the menu, just as they were handed to us, the sommelier brought out 2 bottles of champagne, “Complements of Wisconsin.” That was a truly magical way to start the meal. The entire table was astounded. I’ve never been treated to such a surprise. I’m deeply in love with this woman.

Ian and Allison are not amused at how small the portions are. Just kidding! We were all just starving by the time we got to Yountville.

Prior to the tasting menu, they brought our a few starters. The breads were severed in between courses, but I’ve placed the photos of them here. We also had 2 bottles of wine, but I didn’t keep track of which they were. Allison may know.

I had the extreme pleasure of running into Steve Wozniak and some friends at Outback Steakhouse in San Jose last night. I would be remiss if I did not introduce myself. The introduction turned in to me sitting down with the 3 of them and talking about various things. All in all, I was probably at their table for 15 minutes or so. Steve is an amazingly down to earth, nice guy. Him and his friends were quite chatty. I hope to have the pleasure of hanging out with them again.

M’Oreo cookies are packaged similar to regular Oreo cookies. The two outside trays contain only chocolate (or any flavor) Oreo cookie wafers, while the inner tray contains nothing but creme filling.

This design allows the eater to decide on the amount of filling per wafer ratio. This satisfies everyone, from the person who only likes the wafer to the person that like’s 5x creme filling, to the extremist who likes to add ingredients such as bananas, Nutella, peanut butter or ice cream.

It should cost only slightly more, but can also be sold for slightly more. I believe the demand is there.

Please, I beg you Nabisco, work with me to make this a reality. The people want it.

The fact that there are humans out there that feel this is an answer to some perceived problem is staggering. Their goal is to scare you. To have you feel safe only when locked in your home. Don’t doubt that actions like this are intended to manipulate us. This incident will serve to further the restricting of our freedoms. By replaying the footage for weeks and discussing it ad nauseum, they will seek to infuse a greater fear in people. The answer is not more guns, more weapons and anger. I don’t pretend to know the answer but rash judgments and actions should be avoided.

The only thing a society can do is to use events like this to better understand the reasons why they occur, in order to prevent them in the future. We must look at what is the root cause which leads an individual, group or government to take the lives of innocent people and feel right about it.

Further death and destruction should be avoided at all costs. We must also be ever vigilant of our freedoms and who is controlling them. Do not allow them to succeed in their fear mongering by responding with purchasing more guns, restricting your travel, throwing slurs at people, or any other of the many negative reactions people tend to have in situations like this.

Look at how you respond to this and ask yourself if it brings things closer to a safer, better more positive world or if it leads to further fear, separation and hate. It is naive to say love is the sole answer, but remember that people are born with love, hate is learned. We must teach love, compassion and kindness. Events like this do not occur overnight, and at each point where this could have been prevented, where love and understanding was not used, this is where we failed.

Racism, hate, and war do not belong in society. Let us move closer to an ideal of where we are not in fear of these things. My heart goes out to all of the families of those killed and to those injured. Let us honor them by making this world a better place. By using this event to grow into a better society. By using our hearts and our minds to better understand each other. By loving your fellow man.